In re Forbes

186 F. 79, 108 C.C.A. 191, 1911 U.S. App. LEXIS 4075
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedMarch 9, 1911
DocketNo. 1,845
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 186 F. 79 (In re Forbes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Forbes, 186 F. 79, 108 C.C.A. 191, 1911 U.S. App. LEXIS 4075 (9th Cir. 1911).

Opinion

MORROW, Circuit-Judge

(after stating the facts as above). The bankrupt claims an exemption right in lot No. 43 in the sum of $2,500.

-The provisions of the bankruptcy act (Act July 1, 1898, 30 Stat. 546 [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 3421]) applicable to this case are: Clause-11 of section 2, vesting courts of bankruptcy with jurisdiction “.to.determine all claims of bankrupts to their exemption.” Section 47, cl. 11, -makes it the duty of trustees to “set apart the bankrupt’s exemption's1 and report the items and estimated value thereof to the court as spon as practicable after their appointment.” Section 6 provides

[81]*81“This act shall not affect the allowance to bankrupts of the exemption* which are prescribed by the state laws in force at the time of the filing of the petition in the state wherein they have had their domicile for the six months, or the greater portion thereof, immediately preceding the filing of the petition.”

Section 1 of the act (page 515) provides that the word “state” shall be construed as including the territories.

The law of the territory of Arizona in force at the time of the filing of the petition in bankruptcy was the “Act to regulate homesteads and exemptions,” approved March 21, 1907, to take effect May 1, 1907. Laws of Arizona, pp. 149 — 151, c. 79.

Sections 1, 2, and 13 of this act provide as follows:

“Section 1. Every person who is at the head of a family and whose family resides within this territory, may hold, as a homestead, exempt from attachment, execution and forced sale, real property to be selected by him or her. which said homestead shall be in one compact body, not to exceed in value ihe sum of two thousand five hundred (Sp2.500.00) dollars, and shall consist of the dwelling house in which the claimant resides and the land on which the same Is situated or of land that the claimant shall designate, provided the same is in one compact body.
“Sec. 2. Any person wishing to avail himself or herself of the provisions of the foregoing section shall make out under oath his or her claim in writing,' showing that he or she is the head of a family, and also particularly describing tbe land claimed and stating the value thereof; and shall file the same for record in a hook to be kept for that purpose in the office of the county recorder in the county where the land lies.”
“Sec. 13. Nothing contained in this title shall he so construed as to impair, or in any way affect, any mortgage or lien that may have attached to land before such land was claimed as a homestead.”

When the bankrupt filed his homestead declaration with the county recorder on February 7, 3 908, the lot claimed as a homestead was under attachment in the suit of Pitt v. Forbes. Under section 13 of the territorial act of March 21, 1907, the declaration did not impair or in any way affect the attachment lien; that is to say, the homestead continued to be subject to this lien notwithstanding the declaration.

But, turning now to the bankruptcy act, we find that by the provisions of 67f:

“All levies, judgments, attachments, or other liens, obtained through legal proceedings against a person who is insolvent, at any time within four months prior to the filing of a petition in bankruptcy against him, shall toe deemed null and void in case he is adjudged a bankrupt, and his property affected by the levy, judgment, attachment, or other lien shall be deemed wholly discharged and released from the same, and shall pass to the trustee as a part of the estate of the bankrupt, unless the court shall, on due notice, order that the right under suci\ levy, judgment, attachment, or other lien shall be preserved for the benefit of the estate. * ::: Provided, that nothing herein contained shall have the effect to destroy or impair the title obtained by such levy, judgment, attachment, or other lien, of a bona fide purchaser for value who shall have acquired the same without notice or reasonable cause for inquiry.”

It does not appear from the record that the attachment lien in this case was saved or preserved by any of the exemptions contained in the statute.

Section 1 of the territorial act of March 21, 1907, provides that the homestead “shall consist of a dwelling house in which the claimant [82]*82resides, and the land on which the same is situated; or of land that the claimant shall designate, providing the same is in one compact body.” The exemption in favor of the bankrupt may therefore be a dwelling house and the land on which it is situated, or real property providing it is in one compact body, and the value of the exemption in either case is not to exceed $2,500. The claimant of the homestead in this case did designate as his homestead lot 43 of the San Francisco town site, and this lot appears to be in one compact body. The trustee set it apart as required by clause 11 of section 47 of the bankruptcy act, and reported the fact to the court, together with the estimated value thereof; and this report was confirmed by the court. The attachment lien for $2,025.25, debt and costs $17.50, making a total lien of $2,042.75, covered all the bankrupt’s property, and was merged in a judgment for $2,240.66. The value of the bankrupt’s homestead exemption was under the territorial statute $2,500. The value of lot 43 as fixed by the sale was $4,100. The total estate converted into money was $9,131.54.

It is contended by the respondent that by section 70a of the bankruptcy act the title to the exempt property did not pass to the trustée, and that the lien of attachment was therefore not dissolved by section 67f. Section 70a provides in substance that the trustee of the estate of a bankrupt shall be vested by operation of law with the title of the bankrupt as of the date he was adjudged a bankrupt, except in so fa? as it is to property which is exempt. But the provision of section 67f is not limited in the annulment of liens to property that passes to the trustee. It is general and sweeping, and applies to liens acquired through legal proceedings against the bankrupt during the four-months period prior to his filing his petition in bankruptcy. Collier on Bankruptcy (8th Ed.) p. 161. Thre is some conflict in the authorities upon this question, but we think the interpretation placed upon the statute by Judge Jones in the case of In re Tune (D. C.) 115 Fed. 906, 910, is correct. His discussion of that question is so full and satisfactory that we append his opinion on that point in full:

“The question then arises, Was the attachment lien dissolved by the adjudication? It is urged that a court of bankruptcy cannot concern itself with liens upon exempt property or their enforcement. It cannot'be denied that it ought to view with concern an attempt to create a lien upon exempt property pending discharge. It is its duty to see that legal remedies for collection of debts, from which discharge may absolve, shall not be allowed to create liens upon property set apart to the bankrupt, so as to nullify the policy of the law, by subjecting the exempt property to debts from which the discharge intended to free it. It is insisted that, as the raft of logs was exempt property, the provisions of thg bankrupt act annulling attachments and liens cannot affect the levy in this case, as those provisions were made for the benefit of creditors who cannot share in the exempt property, and no disposition the debtor may make or suffer to be made can amount to a preference.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
186 F. 79, 108 C.C.A. 191, 1911 U.S. App. LEXIS 4075, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-forbes-ca9-1911.